


After The Storm

by the_girl_that_time_forgot



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Character Study, Classic Who Secret Santa, Gen, The TARDIS' library
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 10:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17098724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_girl_that_time_forgot/pseuds/the_girl_that_time_forgot
Summary: A short fic written for monsterfisken in the Classic Who Secret Santa 2018 exchange.I wanted to write something about Barbara finding the library in the TARDIS for the first time, and the time after the ending of the last episode of Inside The Spaceship seemed just right :)Barbara's past is my own invention here, since I couldn't find any canon informations about it.





	After The Storm

A safe space.

That was Barbara's first association with the word _library_. During her years as a schoolgirl, and even later as a student, she used to spend holidays in Oxford with her aunt who worked in one of the University's libraries. Because Barbara was a quiet child, her aunt always took her along to work and let her sit beside the reception desk and read books. Later the aunt thought her everything about the books classifying system and how the catalogues work, so when Barbara grew up, she earned her first money by working as a librarian, replacing the workers who had taken some days off. 

Barbara had only fond memories of that time and a strong conviction that nothing really wrong can ever happen in a big public library, with endless shelves of books, dim ligths, comfortable silence, and gentle librarians whom you can always ask for help with finding what you need. Of course, as an adult she was perfectly aware that it was very naive to think this way, but still - she preferred to pretend that such safe spaces still existed. It helped to keep her inner balance when the school responsibilites and private matters seemed too much to handle.

And since her current situation felt just like that - too much to handle, even though Barbara would never show or admit it to anyone - she wasn't much surprised that her feet were leading her somewhere else than her own room in the TARDIS. After this unpleasant business with one locked button and the ship messing with everybody's heads, she needed a moment to regain her composure. 

A moment in a non-threatening space. 

A moment in a library. 

The Doctor had mentioned something about the ship being able to read or sense the passengers' needs and produce all sorts of rooms with various things inside them. Well, after what she had just experienced, the idea seemed quite plausible, so Barbara decided to focus her mind on a picture of a library, hoping that the Tardis would understand what she needed. She took two turns left and two turns right when suddenly a heavy wooden door appeared right in front of her. Barbara smiled to herself as she felt, not for the first time in her life, like Lucy Pevensie opening the old wardrobe door leading to Narnia. Barbara was very fond of such stories, and now she seemed to step into one by herself - only a few days ago - by simply opening the door of an old police box standing in a junkyard. Isn't life funny sometimes? 

Hoping that the door in front of her will indeed lead to a library, she pushed it a little bit and took a cautious look at the inside. Her face lit up instantly as she noticed the bookshelves, ladders, tables with little lamps on them and a few comfortable-looking armchairs. She slipped inside, grabbed a random book from the nearest shelf and sat down in one of the armchairs. She started to breathe deeply, caressing the cover of the book, enjoying the silence and the comfort. Yes, that felt good. That was just what she needed. 

After a few minutes she actually looked at the book she was holding. _Whale Songbook_. A bit baffled, Barbara opened it and searched for the year of publishing. 2432. Of course, she thought, it's a time travel machine, no wonder there are books from the future here. That thought overwhelmed her for a moment, but then she stood up, went to the nearest shelves and looked more closely at the titles and authors. Maybe she could find some Stella Gibbons' novels published after 1963? If the women has written anything more after _The Weather at Tregulla_ , obviously. Or will have written. Oh, even the tenses get complicated when you travel in time... 

But Stella Gibbons' works were not exactly the thing Barbara was really after in that moment. It didn't seem like the books had been put on the shelves in any logical system, but again the TARDIS might have somehow sensed what Barbara had wanted, as she found the book just on the second shelf she was checking out.

She smiled, thanked the TARDIS aloud, feeling only a little bit silly for talking to a ship. But again, with all these convenient coincidences, you never know... 

***

Barbara woke up to the sound of quiet chuckling. For a moment she didn't know where she was and what was going on around her, but then she noticed someone sitting in an armchair just a few feet away on her right side. It was the Doctor, judging by the sounds the person was making. And he was reading a book. 

'Ah, you're awake now!' said the Doctor when he saw Barbara standing up from the armchair. She smiled to him, even though she was a little bit annoyed by the fact that he has found her there. No more being alone and careless.

'Yes, it seems like I've fallen asleep while reading', she said politely, stiffling a yawn. 

'Do you find _Jane Eyre_ that boring, my dear?' asked the Doctor at once. 

Barbara looked and felt indignant by the mere suggestion. 'No, of course I don't find it boring! It is my favourite book! And I always read it when I feel sad or tired' she explained, trying to keep her voice low and steady. 'Clearly, after our little adventures, I was more tired than I thought.' 

Then she started looking for the book on the floor where it must have fallen down when she fell asleep. She couldn't see it anywhere, though. 

The Doctor was watching her for a moment but then seemed to realize what was she doing. 'Here, I've borrowed your book', he offered while holding a copy of _Jane Eyre_ in Barbara's direction. 'It is a long time since I've last read it, so I wanted to refresh my memory. I hope you don't mind? You weren't reading it anyway', he added, obviously laughing at his own joke. 

Barbara sighed inwardly, but decided to let the Doctor have his way. 'It's all right, you can continue reading it. I'll take a look at this other book I've found earlier', she replied, having in mind the _Whale Songbook_. 

For quite some time the Doctor and Barbara were sitting and reading in comfortable silence. Barbara stopped feeling annoyed and started to feel peace, then longing for the open sea, then pure wanderlust and curiosity, along with an overwhelming love of the Universe. The songs were beautiful beyond words. She didn't even _noticed_ any words while reading, it seemed like the meaning was going straight to her mind. Amazed by this realization, she closed the book and looked at the Doctor.

'Doctor, could you please explain to me how is it that I can't _read_ the words themselves, but still understand the meaning?' she asked, showing him the cover of the songbook.

'Ah, yes, that would be the TARDIS translating it for you in this way, nothing to worry about', was the Doctor's reply. Then he moved his gaze from the book to Barbara's face, chuckled, and said: 'I think you've found yourself a new favourite book.' 

Only then Barbara discovered that she had tears in her eyes and smile on her face. Yes, she thought, this book will stay in her heart forever. And hopefully in the future it will also help her deal with homesickness, as it has done just now. She felt ready to see all the wonders of the Universe. 

So you see. Libraries can bring only good things into people's lives!


End file.
